James Corden trips, raps through Grammy opener

CBS late-night star James Corden tripped off his first Grammy hosting gig by actually tripping, spilling down a brightly lit staircase and right into a big dance production number that he quickly shut down, chastising all involved for their ineptitude.

"Stop! This is a disaster," he said, shooing away his backup dancers as part of a well-choreographed display of clumsiness. "We cannot allow these sorts of mistakes, can we? This is the Grammys, people."

Then Corden, now wearing just one shoe and probably deserving of stunt-man pay after his fall, broke into a Grammys-inspired rap that drew supportive applause and some apparent will-he-pull-this-off? looks, judging from the faces of stars in the Staples Center audience.

The CBS Late Late Show host, a Tony winner with song-and-dance chops who made Carpool Karaoke a viral phenomenon, played down his music cred with the rap line: "I'm in over my head, just not that strong/I'm on 12:30/prime-time, it's just wrong.

"The rap mentioned Adele, whose show-opening performance of Hello was pretty much an impossible act to follow, and gained crowd backing with plentiful name-dropping — Beyonce and her pregnancy with twins, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Drake, Bruno Mars and other music stars.

He got huge applause with a rap reference to President Trump. “Live it all up, because this is the best/But with President Trump we don’t know what comes next.”

Corden, who succeeds a CBS colleague, rapper and NCIS: Los Angeles LL Cool J, as Grammy host, relied on humor in later appearances during the show, which does not feature the traditional awards-show opening monologue. Apparel was a theme.

Introducing Ed Sheeran, Corden, clad in white tuxedo top, black underpants and pink socks, said: "I always told myself that if I ever hosted the Grammys, I would also do it in my underwear."

That's a man who keeps his promises.

Later, Corden peered through the open windshield of a cardboard cut-out of a car with the license plate: Carpool Karaoke.

"CBS has been very concerned about me hosting the Grammys, as my show is on in the middle of the night and they thing no one will actually know who I am. So, contractually, they have made me wear this," he said.

Corden then wheeled over to Jennifer Lopez, who has appeared on Carpool Karaoke, before inviting other stars, including Neil Diamond, John Legend, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, over for a Carpool-like rendition of Diamond's Sweet Caroline.